Raised within a family of artists, Beck was bred an iconoclast. Beck left school to busk on the streets of Germany and New York City, becoming involved in the anti-folk scene. Returning to his native Los Angeles, he was discovered by Bong Load Custom Records. What evolved into Beck’s unintentional Gen X slacker anthem “Loser” started as a joke between him and producer Karl Stephenson. Hardly indicative of his style at the time, “Loser” was Beck fooling around. An attempt to imitate Public Enemy’s Chuck D, its chorus evolved from Beck’s self-deprecating take on his lack of rap skills. The song was developed, adding many of Beck’s common techniques: a drum machine, oddball live instrumentation (in this case, a sitar), sound samples such Dr. John’s “I Walk on Gilded Splinters” and the oft-quoted snippet from the film Kill the Moonlight: “I’m a driver/I’m a winner/Things are gonna change soon, I can feel it.” Beck considered the track a throwaway, but it created as sensation when KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic” picked it up. Beck was booked for a live KCRW performance on July 23, 1993, and the gig led to a label bidding war. His final terms with Geffen enabled him to release less commercially-friendly work on indie labels while under contract. Beck’s 1994 mainstream smash debut Mellow Gold was culled from the Bong Load sessions. His career, today among the most idiosyncratic and inventive of current mainstream artists, had begun.

Official Beck Website
Whiskeyclone.net - Beck megasite
Blender.com: The Greatest Songs Ever: “Loser”